Can this be Love?
by Mei Marino
Summary: Mei has chosen to live with Yoh for a while, and while she still mourn for the death of hao, another person is trying to get her attention: Ren. Could he be the replacement of Hao in Mei's heart or could Hao be her only beloved? Updated already! chap 5 up
1. The 5 elemental guardians

**Correct me if I have some grammatical errors**

**Disclaimer: I do not own shaman king; I do not own get backers**

The plane already landed, the princess has arrived and now she was on her way to Yoh's. Watching the empty streets of Tokyo, Mei remembers the time when she and the girls first met.

She was standing alone in the bridge of the Japanese garden at their school, staring at the water, listening to the voices of the wind as they call her. She was the guardian of water, pretty and young. Light brown eyes and long, black shiny hair with a fair complexion. Others think that there's something wrong with her, always staring at the water and listen to the music of emptiness, talking to herself as they said… or rather she was talking to the unseen… the spirits who hunt the school grounds. She couldn't help it, for a guardian and a shaman of course.

"Hey, are you alright?" a girl asked as she approached the princess. She had dark brown eyes and short black hair.

Many of her classmates didn't know that she was regal… she was studying in Europe that time, and she was the princess of China, from which she really didn't use her proper name.

She goes by the name Renz Ishida, a girl who was adopted by her auntie.

"Why'd you ask?" Mei said not looking at the girl.

"Well, for some reasons… like you've been standing there for an hour now and I saw you talking to your ghost friends…" the girl said not thinking what she had just said.

This made Mei looked at her with shock…

"What the... you can see ghosts as well?" the princes asked with disbelief.

"Nah, but I do believe that there are ghosts… the only problem is that I can't see them, I feel them" the girls said as she joins Mei watch the peaceful water.

Mei chuckled a bit and said "well that's an interesting topic…"

"Well…" the girl said as she looked at Mei and gave her a smile. "My name's Sakura, Sakura Winner" she held out her hand.

Mei was surprised with the girl's actions for she never saw anyone like her. Students from their school always bully Mei, calling her a dork, freak and stupid. This made Mei realize that even though she's a princess, there's always something wrong.

Mei smiled at her and took her hand. "Nice to meet you Ms. Winner, My name's Mei Ling-Marino"

Even though she's forbidden to show her real identity she didn't care because she knows that Sakura is a nice person.

"Mei Ling… Mei Ling hmmm… I heard that name before… wait… you're… you're…" Sakura said as if she couldn't believe what Mei was saying.

Mei gave her a smile and said "that's right… I am Princess Mei Ling-Marino of China"

"Wait… I don't believe this… I thought your name was Renz Ishida" still in shock.

"Well my name is really Mei Marino and that Renz Ishida was more likely of a screen name, the head of the board in the palace forbid me not to use that name, not until I graduated here" Mei explained truthfully.

Sakura was still in shock mode, but after a few minutes she returned to her normal self. "You know what?" she said cheerfully,

"What?" Mei asked in return.

"In return of saying to me your true identity or what so ever, follow me!" she grabbed Mei's hand as she runs toward the school campus.

"Where are we going?" the confused princess asked.

"Just follow me!"

Mei had no choice but to follow her, and now they were walking thru the girls' dormitory. Sakura led her to the 3rd floor where the freshmen girls stayed. As they reached the 3rd floor corridors, Sakura pulled her towards a pink door that has a hot pink placard that says 'SAKURA WINNER'

"Is this your room?" Mei asked.

"Yeah"

"And what are we suppose to do in your room?"

"Secret!" she giggled as she opened the door.

As Sakura opened the door Mei saw a couple of girls in the room. They were reading something from Sakura's computer.

"Hi guys!" Sakura said cheerfully.

The girls looked up and said Hi back. And as they saw Mei walking from behind Sakura they all started to circle around her all saying in unison "Hey, what's your name?"

"Um… My name's Mei Ling-Marino"

"No way! If your name is really Mei Ling-Marino then you must be…" a girl said with disbelief just like what happened to Sakura. The girl had chocolate eyes and short black hair.

"… The Princess of China… Yes, it's true that she is the princess of China and I couldn't believe it myself at first" Sakura said.

"Cool, it's my first time to meet a princess this close! I mean. It's nice to meet you, you're highness" a girl bowed down before Mei as the other girls mimic her moves.

"Oh please don't, actually I really shouldn't expose my name, so just call me Renz for the mean time" Mei said sweat dropping.

"Sure thing!" they all said as the started to introduce themselves to the princess.

Saori Fuuchoin was first, a girl who looks a lot like the teenage Kazuki for the fact that she's Kazuki's twin sister.

Next was the girl who had chocolate eyes and black hair, her name was Mitsumi Lyn, half Chinese-half Japanese.

Last was a girl who had long brown hair, with dark brown eyes. Her name was Karin Tobitah.

And that was the first time when Mei and the girls met; the time when the guardians of the five elements have met. Mei controlled water while Mitsumi had fire, Karin for air and Sakura handle the powers of the earth, last but not least the heart was in Saori's hand.

Many wonderful things happened with the girls; Mei had trained Saori and Mitsumi to be a shaman, while the other two trained themselves more on their elemental power. Sadly, the time came when they had to go on separate ways of life. This happened after their high school life. Sakura had revealed her true identity as the princess of Arabia and she had to return to her country. On the other hand Karin is staying in Europe for her upcoming engagement with her Mike. While Saori, Mitsumi and Mei had chose Japan to study for their College. They were Japanese citizens, so there are no problems. Sakura and Karin gave up their powers and gave them to Mei and Mitsumi. Mei had the element of air while Mitsumi had the element of earth letting them vow that they'll use it for good and to save the world… or at least.

The 3 girls have decided to part from each other for a while until school starts and they have chosen the place that they desire, Mitsumi chose Yamanashi, where her parents live while Saori had chose to stay at her sisters'/brothers' in the infinite castle.

Mei on the other hand had asked her childhood friend Yoh if she could stay with him in Tokyo for a while. Yoh and his fiancée Anna had allowed her to stay with them.

The car had stopped. They have arrived and Mei's body guard was assisting her down on the car.

**Okay, I know that Mei is the princess of china (which I totally made up together with the princess of Arabia) but her father is Japanese that's why she had no choice but to become Japanese citizen.**


	2. The princess has Arrived

**Please correct me if I have some grammatical errors… thank you! I wrote this story for whitephoenix33 (the one whose engage with her mike… mwahahaha evil laugh!) and for you SK fans! **

The princess came out of the car and went towards the Japanese inn. "Here goes nothing…" Mei thought. Her heart was beating faster and faster as she reached the door of the shaman's house.

A knock was heard from inside and Yoh was the one opened the door. He stared at the girl for a while not knowing it was his childhood friend. "How may I help you Miss?" he asked.

The girl just smiled and gave him a friendly hug. "It's nice to see you again!" the girl said.

Yoh was shocked but was able to get over it right away. "Um… I'm sorry Miss but I think you got the wrong house" Yoh said with a sweat drop.

"No, no silly! It's me, Mei!" The girl said with her British accent.

"Mei, as in Mei Ling-Marino; is that really you?" Yoh asked as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yup!" Mei giggled as Yoh gave her a hug. "I missed you so much!" he said as he let go of her. "Come, Anna will be so surprised! You didn't even call! Girl, I thought you'll be leaving Europe next week!" Yoh said as he grabbed Mei's hand and led her to the dining room where Yoh's friends and Anna were.

When they had reached the dining room Mei saw 4 girls and 5 boys having a feast. The girl sitting next to the blue haired girl looked familiar to her… It was Anna, her best friend! The other girl who had pink hair looked also familiar. In fact, it was Tamao; and the rest of them looked unfamiliar to her.

"Guys, this is Mei! She's Anna's best friend and our childhood friend!" Yoh said.

"I didn't know that Anna had a BEST FRIEND!" the Ainu shaman declared.

"Neither did I" agreed the Chinese boy from the Ainu shaman's right side.

"I don't care! She's a real babe! Be my shaman queen!" a man whose hair was like Elvis' said handing Mei a bouquet of flower.

"Would you shut up Ryu and show some respect! Didn't you know that…?" Anna yelled but Mei gave her a 'don't tell them' signal from which Anna settled down and continued eating her food.

"Don't bother Anna," Mei said cheerfully as she turned to Ryu and said "Actually I'm already… um… never mind" She said remembering that Hao's not there anymore. She could have been Hao's fiancée if he hadn't been killed.

"I'm really sorry Mei!" comforted Yoh.

"What happened?" the Ainu shaman couldn't just keep quiet after all.

"Brother!" the blue haired girl warned.

"Never mind about it! We should celebrate for the presence of my beloved friend Mei! She'll be staying here with us for quite a while" Yoh said cheerfully as he and Mei settled down to dine with them.

After that, the gang presented their names to the princess. The Ainu shaman's name was Horokeu Usui and goes by the nick name of Horohoro. His sister's name was Pirika. The Chinese boy's name was Ren Tao and his older sister's name was Jun. The guy goes by the name Ryu, whose hair looked like Elvis. The joker afro boy's name was Chocolove… and last but not least Yoh's good friend Shorty… I mean Morty or Manta Oyamada.

Bedtime!

It was 10 in the evening and everybody should already be in bed.

Ren sat alone near the pond outside the inn. He was looking at the stars… "She's so beautiful, she's like a princess. But I guess she still loves Hao."

"Can't sleep" a voice of a girl was heard from behind him.

Ren turned around and was surprise by the sight of the princess. "Mei…" he said as he stared at the princess. "… Shouldn't you be sleeping already? Your trip was a direct trip from Europe to Japan, aren't you tired of your trip? You should get some sleep"

"How sweet of you my dear boy, even though we've just met" Mei said giving him a sweet, angelic smile as she sat down beside Ren.

Ren could tell that he was blushing, and really hard.

"We used to watch the same stars from Yoh's village" Mei said.

"You miss him?"

"A little… okay, maybe a lot. Hmmm; It's cold, maybe it's not a good idea to be out here in the cold" Mei said as she was trying to forget what she had just said. 'Maybe Ren's right I'm just tired' she thought as stood up and went inside, but before she could even get inside Ren grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him.

**What do you think will happen? Well, everything will be revealed on its own time! And all you have to do is to wait! Hope you like it!**

**Um… just to point out… the "You miss him?" part; it's Hao; and by the way, Ren knew that because Yoh told him. **


	3. Confusion

**Correct me if I have some grammatical errors!**

**This is for all S.K. fans! Enjoy!**

…Ren grabbed her wrist, pulling her toward him…

..The princess landed on his chest, making her feel mixed emotions. She was blushing real hard and her heart was pounding. She wanted to say something to the purple haired bishounen, but she just couldn't find the courage and the exact words to say.

Ren smiled as he gazed at the blushing face of the princess, while Mei found herself lost in the gaze of his golden eyes and his irresistible smile.

Ren was hugging her which made her trembling body stop. It was so cold out there, yet Ren had made the princess relaxed in the warmth of his hug.

'What should I do?' the princess thought as she chose to stay in that position for a while. The truth is that she really wanted it but…

"I'm really sorry Ren but I really must go in, it's already getting colder here" the princess lied as she broke up the hug and was looking at the ground.

"Oh, okay." Ren was heart broken, but he chose to fight. (For the sake of Love)

He lifted her chin and gave her a kiss on her lips.

His lips touched hers gently and after a few minutes, he broke the kiss and whispered something to the princess. He then let go after, allowing Mei to go inside the inn.

Mei went inside her room and jumped in the bed. She already wanted to go to sleep… but she just couldn't forget what had happened that night, especially the one that he had said to her:

"Good night, sweet princess"

"How did he knew?" the princess wondered

Then after 15- 30 minutes, she finally fell asleep by just watching the ceiling. It was decorated with stars.

The stars were a tribute to the former Yin yang master. It was actually his bed room, but for now, Mei is staying in there.

Any way, Yoh and Anna's room was just besides the princess' who's thought were now drifting in dream land, and they were having a little conversation about her.

"Are you sure that it's okay for Mei to stay in Hao's room?" Yoh asked in a worried voice. He was afraid that Mei wouldn't be able to sleep especially in the bedroom of her fiancé who was already dead.

"Of course it is! After all she doesn't know that it was Hao's room. In fact, no one in this entire inn knew that that room belongs to your twin brother. Only the two of us knew it, so stop worrying so much my dear." Anna said calmly and sweetly to his fiancée as she gave him a kiss in the cheeks.

"Whatever you say my love" Yoh replied.

Outside in the cold, Ren was still fascinated by the sight of the glimmering stars.

"I'm so stupid! Why did I do that? I shouldn't have! She's Hao's fiancée! No I can't!" Ren thought as he continued to watch the stars.

Ren's right fingers were touching his lips. He could still feel the soft and gentle touch of her innocent lips.

"Looks like, you like my fiancée" he heard a familiar voice of a man form his right.

Ren turned to his right to see who this guy was. It was Hao, sitting in the branch of the cherry blossom tree of the inn. He was smiling at him, and Ren in turn was shocked by the sight of the Yin yang master.

"What are you doing here?" Ren asked. He wasn't really that surprised to see Hao alive. Besides from the fact that Yoh and Anna knew this, is that he accidentally heard to couple talking about the Yin Yang master.

"I should be the one to ask you that; after all this is also my home." Hao said as got out of the tree and on to Ren's right side.

"I'll always be watching you're every move, Ren Tao" Hao said or rather he warned Ren as he went inside the inn.

* * *

Ringgg… Ringgg….

It's already 6:00 in the morning and everyone apart form Mei should be getting ready for school.

Ren lay silently in his bed. He was already awake but he chose to stay in his bed for a while. He was thinking of what Hao said to him last night. Was he dreaming, or is it… really true? He never thought that what Yoh and Anna were saying about Hao was true.

Any way in the dining room, Jun sat quietly, drinking her coffee. Anna was there too, eating her usual breakfast that is cereal. She took for a thought of why has her little brother late for breakfast. He usually was the first to get his breakfast.

"I wonder when my little brother would get his breakfast done." Jun said.

"Why'd you ask?" Anna said as she continued eating her breakfast.

"Well..." Jun smiled "…because when he's done, he always do the honor of washing the dishes for me" Anna ignored this.

"Should I go get him?" Jun asked.

"Be my guest" was Anna's reply.

Jun got up from her chair to fetch Ren…

When Jun arrived at her destination, she gave a knock at his door and said "Good morning!"

Ren opened the door. He was already getting ready for breakfast when she knocked.

"I thought that you'd never show up! Who's going to do the dishes for me?" Jun said in a teasing manner.

"Whatever sis, any way I have to ask you something" Ren said.

"What is it? You know that I'm always here to help" Jun said smiling.

"I'll tell you all about it later"

"Is it highly confidential?" Jun asked seriously.

"Yes it is" replied Ren.

**Sorry if I didn't updated sooner… I have many things to do… and I have this, what you call Writers' block… or whatever….**

**Once again please point out my grammatical errors! Onegai! Domo arigato gozaimashta in advance!**

**Hope you like it!**


	4. lyrics

**Hey guys! Sorry if I haven't updated yet… so many things to do in school! I hate it but I have to do it… especially when our periodicals are approaching fast… also intrams… I'm really going to cry! Any way I'm going to post this for the mean time while I'm busy with my school work! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the song nor shaman king!**

**Sarah Geronimo****  
Can This Be Love**

Can this be love I'm feeling right now  
I know for certain I'm feeling right now  
I don't recall ever feeling this way  
Tell me what does one say  
To one who makes me feel this way  
Can this be love I'm feeling right now  
I am not sure of this feeling somehow  
Why do I tremble whenever you're near  
I can't seem to say my words so you'll hear

CHORUS:  
This is the first time I'm gonna say "I love you"  
It's the first time I ever felt so helpless deep inside  
If I had to say a thousand times I'd tell you once again  
This is the first time I'm gonna say "I love you"

Can this be love I'm feeling right now  
I love the feeling it's giving me now  
A voice inside me is guiding me now  
It's telling me now  
To take your hand and say

CHORUS:  
This is the first time I'm gonna say "I love you"  
It's the first time I ever felt so helpless deep inside  
If I had to say a thousand times I'd tell you once again  
This is the first time I'm gonna say "I love you"  
This is the first time I'm gonna say "I love you"  
It's the first time I ever felt so helpless deep inside  
If I had to say a thousand times I'd tell you once again  
This is the first time  
This is the first time  
It's the first time I'm gonna say "I love you"

**I also need Ideas! Please contact me! You'll see my e-mail ad in my home page! I really need new ideas! please help!**


	5. Crazy sollution

**I'm back! Sorry if it took so long for me to write another chapter. I was writing my other fanfics. I hope you'll read that fic! Any way let's start the story! **

**Oh, this is for all S.K. fans, enjoy! And correct me if I have some grammatical errors! Okie?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King!**

**-Marino Manor-**

"My job is done for now sir, if you may, I would like to go and visit my sister. She's waiting for ever since the day we arrived" Saori said to the man sitting in his office chair.

"Not yet Saori, we need to be sure that this Ren guy wouldn't interfere with my plans." The man said as he inhaled a few smokes of his cigarette.

"Your wish is my command Mr. Marino" Saori said in an awful manner as she turned her back to the guy.

"You may now leave Ms. Fuuchoin" The man said politely.

"I'm now leaving" Saori said sarcastically.

'I wouldn't allow that Ren Tao ruin my plan of getting Taki marry Mei' He thought as he watched Saori banged the door.

**-out side the office-**

"Man, this is a drag! I feel like I'm sabotaging my friend" Saori said as she walked through the empty hallway of the Marino Manor.

"Your not the only one girl friend" Saori heard a familiar voice, then… she walked back and saw her friend standing at the door she just passed through.

"Mitsumi? Oh my gosh! I missed you so much!" Saori screamed as she hugged tightly her friend.

"Me too!" Mitsumi said as she hugged her friend back.

"You fell to that **monkey** too?" Saori asked with her eyebrows raised up.

"I don't know how he found out about our **secret** but he really is nasty" Mitsumi said as she opened the door behind her.

"Who else?" Saori asked.

"All of us" Mitsumi said, leading Saori to the room where her friends are.

The room has an all pink aura, it has pink curtains, walls and everything in it is pink. It has a bed in the middle and it has a lot of furniture. That may be the room of Mei.

"This sucks" Saori said as she entered the room together with Mitsumi.

"Huh? What do you mean? This room rocks!" Mitsumi said as she looked at Saori.

"I mean monkey"

"Oh okay"

Saori saw their other friends and greeted them.

"Hi" Karin greeted happily.

"Hey" Sakura said in a board manner.

"We have to get out of this mess" Saori said.

"But how? I mean, the man knows our secret! I don't want to be burned at stake, if they still do that" Mitsumi reasoned out as she threw herself at the bed.

Both Karin and Sakura looked down when they heard Mitsumi. They want to live not die.

"Well, I don't want to die either, but as a leader, I suggest we help our friend." Saori said dramatically. "What do you think will Mei do if she's in our shoes? Run away? I think not" she said looking outside the window.

"What did Mr. Marino ordered you to do?" Sakura asked as she comfortably sat at the funky chair.

"Well, he ordered me to hypnotize that Chinese guy and let him dream of that Hao being alive and kicking" Saori replied as she placed her hand at the back of her head. "What about you guys?"

"Nothing yet… but I'm sure what he's going to order us to do will be really, really nasty." Karin said as she was helping herself with the food.

"Guys," Saori looked at them, "I don't know who that Ren is but I think he'll do just fine with Mei don't you think?"

"Well, you have a point; besides, I really don't like the attitude of Taki" Mitsumi said as she got out of the bed. Karin and Sakura both agreed.

"We need a plan" Saori said as they all circled and lowered their heads.

**-School-**

Ren waited impatiently for the school bell to ring while Yoh and Horo were busy snoring.

'Pathetic' Ren thought as he raised an eyebrow and watched them snore out loud.

No wonder Yoh and Horo were sleeping… because their teacher (who looks like so ancient) was teaching them in old school style; so boring and so sleepy.

It was so boring and the school bell hasn't rung yet. And now he was forced to answer the teacher's question on how to solve complex rational expressions.

'As if I'm going to use this when I'm in the real world.' Ren thought as he explained to his classmates his answers.

"Well explained Mr. Tao, I'll give you plus five in your recitation sticks" The teacher said as Ren sat down.

"Will you repeat that for us Mr. Asakura, Yoh?" The teacher said in front of Yoh's desk.

Yoh fell off his chair.

"He's in big trouble, I tell ya," His classmates whispered.

"Um…" Yoh said as he stood up, scratching the back of his head.

Luckily for Yoh, the bell rang. 'Whew, saved by the bell' Yoh thought.

"Ok, next meeting you'll explain that. Okay?" The teacher said.

"Yes sir!" Yoh said as he fixed his bag. And all of his classmates were already leaving, including Ren who was really in a rush.

**-Hall where their lockers are-**

"Where is that Chinese freak going?" Horo asked as he placed some of his things in his locker.

"I think I heard him say that he's going to fetch Jun at Tokyo University" Yoh said.

"Oh, okay" Horo said.

Manta joined them as they got out of the school, then Anna stood in their way, pulling Yoh by his ear, telling him how stupid he was in front of the class and she got totally embarrassed because she kept on bragging to them that she's his fiancée and she doesn't want to see Yoh fall asleep again during class because she's really going to punish him by putting him under training for the rest of his life.

Horo and Manta just stood there, sweat dropped.

After fetching Jun at Tokyo University, they went to a highly priced Chinese Apartment. Their parent rented it for them even though they stay at Yoh's.

**-Jun's Suite-**

Jun sat quietly at the chair waiting for her brother's explanations. "We don't have enough time Ren." She said as she looked at Ren who was standing near the window, looking at the city buildings.

"I know" Ren said as he continued looking at the buildings of the city.

"So speak!" Jun said as she crossed her legs and raised her eye brows.

"Hao's alive" Ren whispered to himself.

"What?"

"I said Hao's alive!" Ren yelled at his sister.

Jun laughed. "Hao couldn't possibly be alive, you said it yourself, and you saw how Yoh kill him"

"No, I don't know! I'm really confused" Ren said shaking his head.

"Because you love Mei?" Jun asked straightly. "You know, I think the best way is to get to know her better." Jun said.

"I already knew her! Remember the princess of the middle kingdom that I met at the market?" Ren looked at Jun.

Jun looked startled in a way, "You mean that little girl was her? How did you now?"

"The necklace! The necklace that symbolizes our family, I gave it to her and she still has it" Ren said.

"You mean the necklace that she's wearing yesterday was the necklace of our ancestors?" Jun was shocked. "That's why every time that father asked about that necklace you can't answer him straightly" Jun grinned. "So that's how it looked, to tell you the truth I didn't know that it was it before. I just thought it was some phony necklace"

"Well it's not" Ren said.

"You know, I think the only best and crazy solution I can give to you is TO GET SOME SLEEP!" Jun said as she was pulling out a small pouch in her pocket. "Good night Ren!" Jun said with her evil smile as she blew some **sleeping dust** on his face.

Ren fell on the ground, asleep. "Problem solve, for now" Jun said smiling evilly.

**-Marino Manor-**

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's worth a try" Saori said. "All right girls, you already know the plan"

"Yes" The girls said.

"Then let's commence phase one" Saori declared.

**Hi guys! Sorry if I didn't update sooner because school works' tying me up... Any way I'll explain the words that are in bold...**

**Monkey-referring to Mr. Marino**

**Secret- their magical powers, easily mistaken for witchcraft.**

**Sleeping dust-made that up... glittering dust that makes a person go to sleep.**

**Any way I hope you liked it... I'll try to update faster…**


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